Vertigo
by Lady Silvamord
Summary: Everybody always assumed Tenten was deeply in love with one of her teammates. ...They just didn't know which one. With psychologist Neji, Stages Of Denial, and clumsy attempts at matchmaking. Of course, Tenten is convinced this is not going to end well.
1. Vertigo

**Vertigo**

_Everybody always assumed that Tenten was in deeply in love with one of her teammates. …They just didn't know which one. Featuring psychologist!Neji, Stages Of Denial, and clumsy matchmaking. Needless to say, Tenten is convinced that this is not going to end well._

-

_This story is dedicated to anybody out there who's ever been in Tenten's position._

¤

Love happens differently for different people.

For Ino, it happens in loud bursts of color, dramatic music, and flowers, as a spotlight shines down on the object of her newfound affection, while Sakura has a tendency to realize her true love for somebody at the most inopportune moments, like in the midst of life-or-death battles. Hinata is the most sensible about it. She just _knows._

Tenten's case is slightly different.

When she first "falls in love", she mistakes the experience for a truly horrible combination of a migraine and a particularly vicious strain of the flu.

Hardly normal.

Adding to the already considerable levels of inauspiciousness, this particular realization just happens to occur while she is bent over a grubby yellow bucket, puking her guts out, while _swearing _never to let Gai-sensei pick the restaurant they eat at ever again.

She has known the bitterness of failure, the agony of defeat, and the humiliation of being the only sane member in a team renowned for running around wearing form-fitting green spandex. And yet, none of that can quite compare to this. Her stomach is cramping up worse than it does after taking a hard hit, her head is spinning, and her muscles are in a state of quivery pain. Tenten realizes, right then, that if nothing else in her life as a shinobi has managed to kill her yet, this bout of food poisoning might just do it.

Neji is frantically making chamomile tea as an antidote, Gai-sensei is crushing rosehips into essence of lavender and chastising himself for being pathetic enough to allow his poor female student to suffer so, but although Tenten appreciates the sentiment, none of this is doing anything to stop the puking. Or the muscle pain, or the headache, for that matter. She despairs, and wonders how close she is to passing out.

A particularly violent spot of sickness comes on, and she grips the side of her bucket as her head spins, willing herself to stay upright.

It is a welcome relief when she feels two hands gently twine themselves in her disarrayed hair, holding it back from her face. Whoever is assisting her so is now rubbing a slow circle on her sore back, reassuring her about the considerable healing powers of youth.

Although Rock Lee is making _no _sense whatsoever, Tenten can't help but feel grateful. She straightens, for the first time in nearly fifteen minutes. "Thanks," she croaks.

Lee keeps a hand on the small of her back, steadying her somewhat wobbly limbs, as the other two members of her team rush over. Neji's hair is sticking out in all directions and he looks as if he had come out worse in a fight with an angry porcupine, but he is holding a large, steaming mug of a fragrant-smelling tea. Gai-sensei is wearing a similar expression, although Tenten has to admit that his concoction looks quite more suspicious, and Lee seems to have acquired a peeled, sweet-scented tangerine from the unsteady-looking kitchen table.

Gai pulls out the nearest rickety chair for her. "Tenten, my poor, innocent student! Sit down, it will not do for you to strain your limbs so!"

Tenten eyes the splintering wood of the chair dubiously. "Gai-sensei, really, it's--"

Three pairs of hands fairly shove her down into the chair.

Tenten blinks.

"Now, Tenten, tea first," Gai-sensei fusses. "It should calm your stomach and your nerves, and this lavender and rosehip brew will ease any muscular tension or headaches. And look, Lee even has a tangerine, for spiritual well-being!"

Her stomach still feels a tad queasy, but Tenten thinks it's best not to argue, anyway. Wishing her bucket was closer, just in case, she reaches out, takes the cup of chamomile tea from Neji, raises it to her lips, and takes a small sip-

As soon as the drink makes contact with her throat, Tenten's face loses all of its color. She experiences a small moment of panic as she feels her stomach begin to rebel and -- _oh dear god, why is the bucket so far away --_

And there is a tangerine in her mouth.

At first she has no idea how the tangerine got there. Then she opens her eyes and sees Lee's very worried face about an inch from hers. Obviously he had stuffed the tangerine in before disaster could strike. Neji is looking at the chamomile tea, slightly hurt, and Gai-sensei looks on the verge of fretful tears.

She tries to make an expression of thanks to her spandex-clad teammate. She just ends up sucking the tangerine. It is very sweet.

The urge to vomit miraculously disappears within a minute, and Tenten can finally disengage the remnants of the tangerine from her mouth. "Thanks," she manages, for the second time in about as many minutes.

Gai-sensei promptly hands her the lavender and rosehip brew. "Drink, Tenten!"

Tenten drinks, feeling no small amount of apprehension. To her surprise, the drink doesn't taste foul - it actually does as much to calm her stomach as the tangerine had. With each sip, the ache in her head dissipates, as well as loosening her stiff muscles.

Tenten blinks when the cup is empty. "Gai-sensei," she says at last, relieved to hear that the hoarseness has disappeared from her voice. "You are _amazing._"

Gai actually wipes away a tear from the corner of his eye. "It is nothing, Tenten. It is the strength of your youthful spirit that has enabled you to overcome your attack by the dreadful food poisoning!"

There is a moment of silence, out of respect for the power of youth, in the cabin. Neji rolls his eyes.

After Team Gai finally mobilizes properly (more accurately, Neji, Lee, and Gai-sensei mobilize; her teacher has insisted that she rest for a little while before they begin their journey back to Konoha), Tenten walks outside the hut for the first time in what feels like _forever. _The sun is warm but not hot, her clothes smell of lavender, thanks to some of the blossoms that Gai-sensei had left for her, claiming the benefits of aromatherapy, her mouth tastes of yet another tangerine, there is a light breeze, and not a cloud in the sky.

Tenten is content.

Gai-sensei is stretching in preparation for the journey back, and Neji is triple-checking their supplies. She is so busy watching them that she almost doesn't notice Lee waltz her way until they are right next to each other. "Are you feeling better, Tenten?" he asks, all wide-eyed innocence.

"Much," she replies with a smile. "The tangerine was great."

Lee strikes the Good Guy Pose. "Always glad to help, Tenten!"

And then Rock Lee does something that changes her life forever.

He hugs her.

Well, it wasn't as if it was the _first_ time that they had ever hugged. Lee liked hugging. He hugged her, he hugged random old ladies in the street, he hugged Gai-sensei, and even Kakashi-sensei once. He hugged Naruto. Hell, he hugged _Neji._

But somehow, this time is different. As she feels his arms wrap around her, her face against his shoulder - when Lee got tall, he got _tall_ - she feels a very odd sensation. At first, she thinks that she's about to puke again. The odd swooping sensation in her stomach is enough to tell her that. And yet, everything stays down, even while her head spins.

By the time she gets herself together enough to really hug him back, he is already pulling away. "Right, Tenten! By tonight we will be back at home, and you can give your spirit all the proper rest you need!"

With that, he is bounding away to assist Neji with the packs.

Tenten blinks.

That had been _weird._ Must have been a side effect of all that lavender and rosehip blend.

-

It has been two weeks since their return to Konoha.

Tenten has not eaten anything that would further irritate her sensitive stomach. She hasn't sustained any extensive injuries in sparring with her teammates. There has been no head trauma whatsoever. She hasn't been exposed to anything that would scar her mentally.

And yet, she still feels strange. Off balance, somehow. She feels more conscious of herself than she's felt in years. In a way, it's similar to how she feels when she's working with her weapons. Every nerve in her body sensitized; every one of her five senses excruciatingly aware to the whir of the metal a fraction of an inch away from her skin. Except now it's _all the time. _She can be standing with her teammates in the clearing, getting ready to train, and as she fastens her arm guards, she can feel _everything_ so acutely. Neji and Lee's gazes as they glance upon her, the warm weight of Lee's fists as they connect with her outer forearm blocks, the way every callus of his palms feels against the bare skin of her upper arms as he lifts her to her feet if she falls to a particularly hard hit.

Tenten is confused. Completely confused.

To be honest, it's really starting to piss her off. She has always been a sensible young kunoichi; both feet firmly planted on the ground. The only flight of fancy she has ever been prone to was dreaming about what lay under that infuriating mask of Hatake Kakashi's. And even _that,_ aside from the tendency to shoot him dreamy looks whenever she happened to be in interaction with Team Seven, or more recently, Team Kakashi, was nothing, compared to whatever the hell mental confusion she is experiencing now. For goodness' sake, it's even _distracting_ her from her training.

"Tenten, are you quite all right?"

Neji's voice breaks her out of her reverie, and she shakes her head firmly. "Yeah. I'm good."

Neji crosses his arms and gives her a _look. _"We're ten minutes in and you haven't even pulled out your third scroll yet."

_Damn, he's good. _Tenten crosses her arms right back. "So?"

"Last time we were ten minutes in and only on the second scroll, you started vomiting your innards out five minutes later. I am sure you can understand my wariness."

Tenten snorts. "I can assure you I'm not going to puke this time, Neji."

"Well. Now that we have _that _cleared up, I would appreciate it if you divulged the reason for your recent absentmindedness." To her dismay, she notes that Neji means business. He actually sweeps some dirt off the nearest rock and sits down on it, looking up at her with an expectant expression. She opens her mouth.

"And don't tell me nothing's wrong, either," he adds, effectively cutting off her escape route.

"But," Tenten protests weakly.

Neji raises an eyebrow. "Do I have to list all the signs that I have noticed that something _is _wrong? Because I am sure that would embarrass you. It would be faster and more effective if you just came forth now."

The weapons mistress scowls. "Can't you just get up from your precious rock, Jyuuken me until I can't stand up straight, win this spar, and forget that this conversation ever happened?"

Neji considers this briefly. "No."

_"Why?"_

"Whatever is going on in your personal life is affecting your performance during training as well as a general vagueness during day to day activities. Since your life and behavior are so closely tied in with my own, Lee's, and Gai-sensei's, as well, I deem that it is best for all of us as a team if you let me help work out your issues."

This is all spoken in an entirely smug and self-assured tone of voice that pretty much leaves Tenten defeated. "…You forgot the fact that you're just nosy and want to know every intimate detail of my life."

Neji flexes his elbow experimentally. "This may or may not be true. Continue."

Tenten sighs and outlines her symptoms of the past two weeks to him.

Silence falls in the clearing as the genius Hyuuga settles into a meditating position and closes his eyes. Motes of light flicker through the leaves' shady canopy, and Tenten looks at him expectantly. "Well?"

"I am still thinking," Neji states in a monotone.

Tenten makes it a point to shuffle her feet, rustle leaves, and breathe very loudly.

A cloud drifts away from the sun, and suddenly Neji is bathed in a ray of golden sunlight. He opens his eyes. "I have come to a conclusion."

"…_And_?" Tenten shifts from foot to foot, barely able to contain her impatience.

Neji yawns. "You are suffering from an emotional affliction that I am currently unable to diagnose."

There is silence once again, only broken by the sound that Tenten's jaw would have made if it had been anatomically able to fall to the ground. "Emotional affliction? What is _that _supposed to mean?"

"A wide range of things. You could be cripplingly jealous of somebody. You could desire for change in your life. You could want to make a new friend. You could want to beat Akimichi Chouji to the last cookie at the banquet table in Hokage Tower for once. You could be lusting for Morino Ibiki. It varies."

Tenten has to resist the impulse to throw the nearest twig at her immaculate teammate. "What the _hell_, Neji? Morino Ibiki?"

Neji lifts his hands. "These are just some possible explanations. It isn't like I'm a qualified therapist or anything of that sort."

"But still," huffs Tenten. "I've been asking you for advice and crap for years and you always had the perfect cryptic answers."

Neji shrugs. "I am sorry. Maybe you should ask somebody a little more…experienced…in the realms of emotional afflictions, Tenten."

"Fine." She takes a step back. "Thanks, Neji. See you later."

Neji closes his eyes again, preparing to enter his meditative state. "Anytime."

-

_Experienced in the realms of emotional afflictions._

_Hmm._

It takes Tenten exactly five minutes of deep thought to mentally identify a friend experienced in the realms of mental afflictions. For goodness' sake, Sakura had been deeply in love with the biggest traitor Konoha had experienced since Orochimaru. Stuff like that _has _to go hand-in-hand with emotional afflictions.

So that is how she comes to be sitting next to Haruno Sakura at Ichiraku Ramen, describing her curious symptoms for the second time in as many hours.

Sakura nods wisely, and guides a small bit of chicken to her mouth with her chopsticks. "Yeah, Tenten, I know what's up."

Tenten blinks. "It took Neji ten whole minutes."

Sakura gestures impatiently. "This is _Neji_ we're talking about. Do you want to hear my conclusion or not?"

The weapons mistress nods, her mouth full of steaming hot ramen noodles.

"You like Rock Lee."

The world explodes.

Tenten chokes on her noodles.

Alarmed, Sakura begins pounding her on the back until the other girl finally manages to swallow the noodles, which have turned into so much ash in her mouth. "All right?"

"No!" flails Tenten, aghast. "No! I am most definitely _not_ all right! What the _hell, _Sakura? Are _you_ all right?"

Sakura blinks. "Um. It's pretty obvious."

"Obvious?" Tenten echoes. By this time her voice has oscillated to a high pitched squeak. "Me? And _Lee_?"

"Well," Sakura says, with a roll of her eyes, "it was either going to be him or Neji, obviously. And for some completely unfathomable reason, your subconscious chose Lee."

"But…but…but." Tenten, fully aware that she sounds remarkably like a broken record player, is rapidly trying to come up with a list of reasons why the pink-haired kunoichi is completely delusional, and how she _does not _like Lee.

Giving her a completely unconvincing _I'm-going-to-humor-you _look, Sakura pushes her bowl of ramen aside and flops an arm on the counter, leaning on it so she can make full eye contact with her companion. "You're right, Tenten. You must _not _like Lee. I mean, seriously. What girl in their right mind would _ever_ like Rock Lee?"

"That's right." Tenten crosses her arms over her chest and puts her nose in the air, as if this is the end of the matter.

Unfortunately, Sakura has other ideas. "That bowl cut. It's _hideous._ And don't even get me started on the green spandex. He's the most unfortunately-dressed shinobi to ever walk the streets of Konoha."

Before she knows it, Tenten is rising to the bait. "Sakura! The bowl cut is the only one that would really suit his facial type-would you really _want_ him running around with a ponytail like Shikamaru's? Besides, the form-fitting green spandex really highlights his physique--"

As she speaks, Sakura raises an eyebrow wordlessly.

Tenten claps a hand over her mouth, horrified at the traitorousness of her mind. "Oh. No." Her hand muffles her voice, and her eyes are now just about as wide as table tennis balls. "Oh. _Please. _No. Way. I did not just say _any _of that."

Sakura smirks. "Well, I think it's obvious now, isn't it?"

There is a muffled thump as Tenten's head makes contact with the solid wood of the counter. Repeatedly.

The other girl waits patiently for the barrage of self-injury to stop. When it does, Tenten lifts herself up from the counter and stares at her with bleak eyes. "You're the medic-nin. Help me."

Sakura snorts. "_I _can't help you. You're the only one who can do that."

Tenten actually grabs Sakura by the shoulders, a rather demented expression on her face. "_How?_"

Sakura disentangles herself calmly, and then gives her a sweet smile. "Tell him, of course."

In the shocked silence that follows, Sakura yawns and glances at the clock in the corner of the shop. "Aah, I'll be late for training with Tsunade-sama. See you later, Tenten."

Tenten is able to nod weakly, and Sakura forms a few hand signs and disappears in a swirl of cherry blossoms. Leaving Tenten to collapse back onto the counter again. The image of her teammate pops up into her mind again, grinning his bright grin and flashing the thumbs up.

_Damn._

-

Tenten is undoubtedly one of the best kunoichi in the village. The first exclusive weapons specialist to come out of Konoha in more than three generations. Accomplished by anybody's account.

And yet, for all of _that _skill, she has just about _zero _experience in anything to do with romantic relationships.

For these past sixteen years, she's just viewed them as distractions. So now, the realization that she has been subconsciously crushing on one of her teammates for the past _four years_ is fittingly shocking.

Unsurprisingly, the first thing she does is run back to the clearing, where she finds Neji still meditating on his rock. As all best friends are prone to do, the first thing that comes out of her mouth is her stunning realization of the past half hour.

Neji doesn't blink. "Yes."

Tenten stares. "_Yes_? Did you know _all along_?"

He considers. "No. The possibility struck me about five minutes after you had left here. But I thought that maybe there would be better people to explain it than myself."

Overwhelmed, but not overly surprised at her teammate's perceptiveness, Tenten sits at the foot of the rock and buries her head in her hands. "Neji. This is absolutely insane. I soul-searched for about half an hour at Ichiraku, and I guess I've liked him for much longer than I even knew. And I just _realized _it now."

"Hmm. This is an interesting situation." He folds his arms and thinks. "When exactly did you _realize _this?"

"Um. After I finished throwing up and he gave me a hug."

"Right. Obviously all the feelings that had accumulated over the years decided to present themselves at a time of stress. And since then, the symptoms have just manifested themselves in day-to-day life."

Tenten nods. "Right."

Neji stands up and stretches. "I wish I had more time to discuss this with you, Tenten, but according to our plans of yesterday, Lee should be arriving very shortly."

_"What_?"

True enough, before her incredulous gasp is finished echoing around the clearing, she catches sight of a telltale flash of green and orange against the treetops. As she watches, Lee backflips down the branches swiftly, until he comes to a neat landing in front of them, striking a salute. "Good afternoon, my wonderful teammates!"

"Afternoon, Lee," Tenten and Neji say in unison, his voice luckily masking her weak and rather shocked tone.

Normally Tenten loves training with them. Normally she loves the hours they spend in the clearing together, sparring and throwing weapons and punching trees and racing through the leaves, avoiding the traps that the others set. When night falls, and all three of them, sweaty and panting, walk their sore selves over to Ichiraku for dinner, she almost wishes the day wasn't over.

But normally, Tenten isn't working extremely hard at masking her feelings for one Rock Lee.

For god's sake, she feels like there's a huge sign taped to her forehead that screams out to the world, 'I LIKE ROCK LEE.' She feels her cheeks heat up every time they make eye contact. She avoids his punches and kicks when they spar with hyperaware speed; anything to prevent their skin from making contact.

She fails, once, and Lee's open palm strike connects squarely with her chest. She staggers back, but his arm is around her before she makes contact with the ground. She has flinched already, and when she opens her eyes, she is greeted with a concerned look in his big eyes.

Suddenly uncomfortably aware of the warmth of his arm supporting her back, Tenten leaps away, into a fighting stance, as if burned. "I'm fine," she insists in response to his question, lifting her fists into a defensive guard. "Come on."

The rest of their training session continues as usual - if this new state of events can be considered usual. By the time night falls and the weary three come to a rest, collapsed under a single tree, Tenten's nerves are worn paper-thin. She would have been content to just bash her head against the trunk of the tree until blissful unconsciousness claims her, but Neji effectively kills that plan by standing up and folding his arms decisively. "Dinner."

Tenten ends up at the dango stand a little while later, sandwiched between Neji and Lee as usual. To her dismay, even the heavenly dango doesn't do much to stop her from feeling uncomfortably aware of the heat of Lee's body a few inches from hers.

She feels a sense of mingled disappointment and relief when he declares that he needs to leave soon, so that he will be able to rise at four-thirty the next morning to run his customary thirty laps around Konoha, along with helping Inuzuka Hana walk the clan's dogs.

When Lee is safely out of sight, Tenten allows herself to slouch on her stool, under Neji's understanding gaze. "This is awful," she mutters.

Neji passes her another stick of dango. "There is no visible awkwardness whatsoever, if that makes you happier."

Tenten sighs and bites down on the delicious confection. "Yeah. It helps. But, seriously, Neji, what should I do?"

Neji shrugs. "I would advise telling him. The unresolved sexual tension is giving me the urge to slam my head into a wall of solid bedrock."

She flicks a stray drop of red bean sauce at him playfully. "That's all very well for _you_ to say. The dynamics of our team _hinge _on this. What if I say something and everything gets screwed up? We've always been one of the best teams in Konoha in terms of teamwork and - everything. I don't want to be the one to compromise that."

The look in Neji's eyes softens almost imperceptibly. "Tenten. I would hardly be giving you advice if I felt that it had the potential to _screw things up._"

"So…do you actually think that I - that we, I mean - Lee and I - could work?" she asks, hardly daring to believe it.

"Obviously. Of course, that means-" He trails off thoughtfully, regarding the pan of frying sauce nearby.

Tenten takes a sip of lemonade. "Means?"

"It means you will actually have to tell him. Which may be slightly difficult."

Tenten allows herself to contemplate the scenario briefly. Even within the confines of her mind, she can only imagine three kinds of results - humiliating, disastrous, and cataclysmic. She collapses upon the counter, cursing the kunoichi inside her. The one that isn't put off by the idea of doing potentially humiliating, disastrous, and cataclysmic things, if it means the fulfillment of a mission "…Fine. I'll do it. But you _have_ to help me out."

Neji looks slightly affronted, as if everybody should know the thought of his aiding in romantic matters is _nothing_ compared to his sizeable achievements as a shinobi. "Of course."

Tenten picks up her glass of lemonade with new confidence. "To Mission…"

"…Mission…Capture The Green Beast?" He is obviously at a loss.

Tenten smacks his upper arm. "Neji! That's so _lame _and clichéd!"

Neji snorts. "Fine, _you _come up with something."

Silence.

Defeated, the kunoichi clinks her glass to her teammate's. "Mission: Capture The Green Beast, commenced."

Neji smirks. "I'll drink to that."

_Commenced, _Tenten thinks, with an unwelcome prickle of ominousness, after she sets her empty glass back down on the counter, _for better or worse._

¤

Reviews appreciated!


	2. Escalation

**Note: **Thank you so much to everybody who reviewed!

**Vertigo – Chapter Two. **

¤

Tenten wakes up the next morning with a new sense of purpose and resolve.

…Not the usual kind of purpose and resolve she feels every morning. Not the, "_oh, a new day in which I may go out and prove my worth as a kunoichi by excelling at any mission that I must perform,_" kind.

The, _"oh, a new day in which I may go out and, uh, inform Rock Lee of the depth of my hidden romantic feelings for him, which may or may not involve poorly executed seduction techniques," _kind of purpose and resolve.

Tenten rolls over in bed, facedown, and pounds her pillow.

This process would doubtless be much easier if she had any clue how on earth to inform anybody about deeply hidden romantic feelings. Shockingly enough, the seduction techniques would actually be easier.

However, if she strolled up to Lee wearing her strapless red cocktail dress (exclusively reserved for seduction missions), stiletto heels, and the string of very fake diamonds that usually adorned her neck on such events, he would be more likely to commit her to the Konoha Hospital under the mental confusion ward than sweep her off her feet with a passionate kiss.

Just her luck.

So the kunoichi stumbles out of bed and takes her usual cold morning shower. This has absolutely nothing to do with whatever she dreams at night, because Tenten _does not dream at night, _and even if she did, it would most definitely _not _be of Lee, shirtless, pouring a bucket of water over his head after training and getting all hot and sweaty after a spar with Neji—yes. Never would she dream anything as ridiculous as that.

She then proceeds to get dressed in her customary outfit, after twining her hair up in its customary buns, as always. (While doing this, Tenten refuses to spare a glance at the limited store of makeup in the very, very back of her cabinet.) She puts on her stylish but practical heels, gathers her impressive armory about her – her summoning scrolls _and_ the coils of hidden weapons she keeps secured on her person, concealed by her loose sleeves and pants. The Godaime has scheduled a B-rank mission for them today, and that should require the majority of her resources.

In a matter of a few minutes, Tenten is strolling out of her locked apartment, all ready for her mission. She tries quite hard not to think of, or look for, somebody who is doubtless finishing running his thirty laps around Konoha by now. And if anybody who she passes catches the sweetly aromatic scent of plumeria and mango lingering around her, they are certainly delusional, because she is _not _wearing perfume. At all.

The streets are relatively deserted as she strolls toward Hokage Tower, not in any particular hurry. She is half an hour ahead of schedule, anyway. To any outward observers, if there had been any, Tenten would be the picture of a perfectly calm, happy kunoichi making her way through the village, physically and mentally ready for her next mission.

…Which isn't extremely far from the truth. However, instead of preparing herself to be an amazing bodyguard to the young son of a very rich lord, she is preparing herself to keep her composure when faced with Lee.

Lee. Honestly. It isn't as if Lee is…Neji or anything. Lee can't be intimidating if his life depended on it. He wears green spandex and loves ducklings. Green spandex. Ducklings. Nothing to be afraid of there.

Repeating this mantra to herself, Tenten eventually finds herself at the entrance to Hokage Tower. To her surprise, Neji is lounging outside already, leaning against a lightpost. His eyes are closed – unusual enough – and his long hair isn't cascading down his back with its usual degree of almost indecent glamour. Curious. Maybe the dango last night hadn't agreed with his sensitive constitution.

Tenten approaches cautiously. "Uh, Neji?"

He opens his eyes so easily it doesn't even seem as if he had been snoozing against a lightpost a moment ago. "Good morning, Tenten."

The girl in question peers at him curiously. "Are you all right?"

Neji stands up straighter, before stretching. "I am fine." In response to her continued dubious gaze, he sighs. "Fine. I just happened to be up a little later than I would have liked, thinking about certain issues."

"Issues, being?"

If he had been anybody else, a slightly sheepish look would have been clearly etched on his features. "The operation that was in discussion yesterday."

A few moments of silence. Tenten cocks her head. "I can't decide whether your dedication to the cause is rather sweet or downright creepy."

Neji crosses his arms and makes a point of staring at a fixed area somewhere a foot over her head. "I would prefer that it be labeled neither. Besides…"—he gives her a rather predatory smirk—"_I'm _not the one wearing perfume."

Tenten turns an alarming shade of red and tries to punch him in the arm. "Shut up! I'm not wearing perfume! I don't know what you're talking about."

Neji sidesteps the blow easily. "If it would not be so blatantly out of my normal character to do so, I would be running around in circles, taunting you about your crush on Lee and the fact that you're wearing perfume. …However, since I am fully aware about the degree of disturbance that would cause you, I shall restrain myself."

Tenten wonders if there's a nearby tree she can slam her head into. "Thank you, oh great, merciful Neji. I will never forget this great deed of kindness."

Her teammate yawns. "Anytime. Besides, I am sure you would want to remain composed for the moment, due to the impending arrival of your object of affection."

She gives him an incredulous look. "Do you have some kind of…of Lee-radar or something?"

Neji snorts. "No, I would be happy to leave _that _sort of madness up to you. It's called the Byakugan, Tenten. It comes in rather useful at times like this."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. I'm falling over with amusement right now, Neji. I hope you know that."

"As a matter of fact, I revel in it."

Tenten is distracted from her search for a witty reply by the sight of a rather formidable, rapidly approaching, dust cloud rising up on the far side of the street. "Oh dear," she manages.

"No time to lose your nerve now," Neji observes astutely.

"Time to utilize those compartmentalizing skills Gai-sensei's always going on about?" she mutters out of the corner of her mouth.

"Neji! Tenten!" The ever-enthusiastic voice preempts Neji's reply, and now the two of them can clearly see the vivid green outfit, shiny bowl-cut, and impossibly bright smile that are characteristic of the one and only Rock Lee. He skids to a sudden stop in front of them, beaming and not even out of breath.

A thin layer of dust settles over Tenten's clothing, and she coughs. "Hi, Lee."

Lee regards her dusty appearance with an expression of abject remorse. "Tenten, I am so sorry!"

"Lee, really, it's okay—"

"No, it is not okay! My carelessness has caused your youthful morning freshness to become destroyed!" In stark contrast to Lee's distressed expression, Neji is smirking over his shoulder. _So much for the perfume, _he mouths.

Tenten tries her hardest not to knock Lee out of the way and hit Neji hard on the head. "I'll just dust it off," she tells her concerned teammate, and proceeds to sweep the dust off her shirt with a little more force than necessary.

Lee looks a little alarmed at Tenten's vehemence, but just as she had planned, a few flecks of dirt land on Neji's completely spotless Hyuuga robes.

Neji's expression is torn between crestfallen and murderous.

Tenten beams.

…However, the happy expression soon turns into one of surprise as she feels Lee's hand on her shoulder. _Stroking _it. _Caressing _it.

"—The son of our client is allergic to dust, remember, Tenten? I do not wish for his father to be displeased if we accidentally send him into a fit of allergies…"

And then Tenten realizes that Lee is just dusting her shoulder off.

Deciding that it would be too highly suspicious if she jumped away and insisted she was perfectly capable of dusting _herself _off, Tenten has no choice but to subject herself to Lee's careful ministrations, until her shirt loses the coffee-colored tinge and is crisp white again. So that she isn't responsible for the kid they're guarding having an asthmatic fit or anything.

However, all this means that she gets to see Neji trying very, very hard not to laugh at the both of them. Obviously he finds the situation amusing. She glares, but that seems to have no visible effect.

"There, that is much better." Lee stands back from her and admires the effect that his extraordinary dusting has had.

Tenten has to admit that her shirt _does _look as good as new. She smiles. "Thanks, Lee."

Lee strikes a noble pose. "You are welcome, Tenten! And I would like to say that your new shampoo smells very fragrant. The scent of plumeria and mango is very pleasing to the senses."

After she is finished cursing her tendency to blush easily, Tenten can't hold back a triumphant grin. "I'm glad you like it."

(She is pleased to note that, while this exchange is going on, Neji seems to be on the verge of retching.)

"So, shall we go in?" she suggests airily. "Gai-sensei said he'd meet us inside."

"Of course."

Neji leads the way, sweeping through the heavy wooden double doors of Hokage Tower, with Lee and Tenten following dutifully. The two chuunin on guard duty nod respectfully at all three of them, although they both give Tenten roguish winks as soon as her two teammates' backs are turned. She rolls her eyes and they grin at her.

Before they can even make it up to Tsunade-sama's office, though, they are interrupted on the third flight by a loud _crack _and an accompanying plume of smoke, so that the area of the hallway is completely opaque. Tenten jumps back, startled, her hand instinctively going to the kunai holstered at her waist. Lee's green spandex is all that her visual cortex can adequately register in this less-than-ideal lighting, and he moves to stand in front of her, both hands clenched into fists and his feet placed in a defensive guard.

For his part, Neji just sighs. "Gai-sensei, _must _you do this every Tuesday?"

A few moments pass before Tenten registers his words. She sighs. "Gai-sensei?"

A sheepish cough comes out of the smoke, which is now beginning to dissipate. "I am sorry, my students. I got the slightest bit carried away in my youthful fervor!"

Lee is the first to recover. He bounds forward and high-fives his sensei. "It is quite all right, Gai-sensei! That was a thoroughly charismatic and winning entrance!"

"Thank you, Lee," Gai-sensei says, wiping away a tear of joy. "It is nice to know that I am not losing my flair in my upcoming autumn of middle age."

Tenten, somewhat at a loss at this display of un-Gai-like emotion, gives him a weak thumbs-up.

Gai beams with pride.

Lee grins in approval.

Neji rolls his eyes.

"In other news—" Gai whips out a scroll from one of the innumerable pockets of his jounin vest. "I have collected the official parameters of our mission!"

Neji, Lee, and Tenten all nod in understanding when he's finished. Lee is as psyched for a mission as usual, fairly bouncing with excitement on the balls of his feet. Tenten feels mildly apprehensive anew at the thought of watching over a little kid. Neji simply looks repulsed, doubtless because of his bad experiences babysitting in the past.

Tenten blinks. She must have spaced, because Lee and Gai-sensei are walking down the hall already, doubtless to meet the client outside of Konoha's East Gate. Neji hangs back. "So?" he mutters out of the corner of his mouth.

"…So?" Tenten mutters back.

"Plan of action."

"Plan of action?"

"Why are you echoing my words, Tenten?"

She notes offhandedly that Neji would make an _excellent _ventriloquist. "Because I don't _have _a _plan of action, _Neji."

Neji spares her a disapproving look as they stride along behind their two teammates. "You _are _supposed to."

"Relax," she hisses as they narrow the gap between themselves and Gai-sensei and Lee. "I'll come up with something."

-

"I'm a pathetic failure."

Neji watches Tenten take a deep swig of her lemonade and push her bowl of ramen away, disheartened. He pats her shoulder. "Nonsense. You just…did not come up with anything that involved you and Lee getting any closer on the mission."

Tenten sighs. "Thanks."

Neji lifts his chopsticks and inspects a piece of chicken before biting into it. "Maybe it was not fated to happen today."

Pulling her bowl back to her, Tenten gazes into its soupy depths. "We're relying on fate now?"

"Yes."

"So what should we do?"

"We wait for a sign."

Tenten blinks at him. "What?"

Neji waves a hand impatiently. "You will see."

They sit in silence for two minutes, until, for the second time that day; an object cloaked in a cloud of smoke materializes on the stool next to them. Tenten blinks, and when the smoke clears, she is faced with the sleepy-looking visage of Nara Shikamaru. "Yo," he says laconically, raising a hand in greeting.

Neji blinks in surprise. "I thought you said you weren't coming tonight."

Shikamaru sighs. "This isn't for dinner. Although," –he casts a longing look at the pot of steaming ramen that the Ichiraku owner is currently tending—" that does sound tempting right now. You do know what time of year it is, right?"

Tenten blinks at the sudden change in subject. "It's near…midwinter."

"Which means?" prompts Neji.

"The annual midwinter ball, of course," Shikamaru yawns.

He is greeted by stunned silence by the other two members of Team Gai. "Oh yeah. You three were on a mission this time last year, weren't you?"

"In Sunakagure," Neji affirms. "Which explains why this is unfamiliar news."

He sends Tenten a significant look.

Tenten is feeling all her motor and mental functions slowing down as her mind slowly connects two and two.

"…Yeah, Neji, I wish I could stay, but Tsunade-sama has me delivering this joyous news to twenty more people by the end of the night."

Neji nods. "See you tomorrow, Shikamaru."

The other chuunin disappears in a similar puff of smoke. Neji turns around slowly and fixes his gaze on the now horrorstruck Tenten.

"No. Way." she manages. "No. This is a conspiracy."

"No," Neji corrects. "This is fate."

Tenten's mouth opens and closes, but no sound comes out.

"I sense that you are in need of assistance," the Hyuuga prodigy cuts into her inner meltdown smoothly. "There is a midwinter ball in a week. You are going to ask Rock Lee to be your date to said midwinter ball."

"And how would I do this?" Tenten squeaks out.

"_Lee, will you go to the dance with me_? Six words. We have a day off training tomorrow, but he's going to be in the forest during the evening. Just do it then."

"Six words," echoes Tenten, suddenly wondering where all of her fearless kunoichi bravery has gone. "Just six words, right."

"Piece of cake," Neji supplies encouragingly.

Tenten squares her shoulders, a grimly determined resolve sliding over her. "Order me another glass of lemonade, Neji. I'm definitely going to need it."

-

I am fearless.

_I am a ninja._

_Fearless ninja._

Reciting this three-line sentiment to herself over and over again, Tenten looks up from her studied observation of her feet, only to notice with something akin to dread that she is approaching the forest.

Tenten hurries her pace until she is slipping with ease through the trees, retreading a very familiar path. It is a matter of a few minutes until she is standing, just barely concealed behind the old oak tree, watching Lee batter the life out of a nearby tree with his fists. His punches are fueled by raw strength alone – no chakra involved. Every time his fists connect with the tree, more and more pieces of wood splinter off the bark. To her relief, she notes that his fists and arms are tightly wrapped, so that he won't be sporting any ghastly cuts on his knuckles the next morning. In solitude, he has abandoned his skintight green spandex for a pair of gray pants and a threadbare white t-shirt, the collar already soaked through with sweat.

In solitude, _she _allows herself to admire the look of pure determination in his eyes as he continues to hammer the tree. For both of their sakes, she lets him finish his first one hundred punches before she clears her throat ever so slightly and steps out from behind the tree.

"Lee?" she asks, her voice thankfully remaining calm.

At the sound of her voice, he spins around, his eyes widening with surprise. "Tenten!" Abandoning his post at the tree, he runs over to join her, before flinging his arms around her shoulders in his usual hello hug. Whereas normally her hormones hardly protest such a greeting, on this _particular_ day, Tenten is hard pressed to stifle a groan of misery. He really _has _to make this hard for her.

"Are you going to train with me?" he inquires innocently. But then, something else obviously catches his attention, and a look of worry registers on his face. "Tenten? Your hair…have you misplaced your senbon again?"

Tenten shrugs self-consciously, now more then ever aware of the long, soft weight of her unbound hair down her shoulders and back. "Um, yeah, actually."

"I can help you look for them," Lee offers, ever helpful. "But your hair looks just as nice like this, too. So you shouldn't look so sad."

Tenten smiles, hoping fervently that she isn't blushing as red as a tomato. "Thanks, Lee. But…" she takes a deep breath, steeling herself. "But I didn't come here to train. I, um, wanted to ask you something."

Lee obviously senses nothing out of the ordinary from this request. He leans against the trunk of the old oak tree, looking at her. "Yes, Tenten?"

Tenten inhales, exhales, and reminds herself that she is a kunoichi of the Leaf. "The midwinter ball is coming up," she says, her eyes focusing on determinedly on Lee's, even as her fingers involuntarily grip and twist at the ends of her Chinese-style blue top. "I…I was wondering if, if you wantedtogototheballwithme."

The last part of her sentence, to her mortification, comes out entirely too rushed, leaving her to just look up at him with a rather plaintive expression in her eyes.

To his credit, Lee pieces together the slightly mangled query in record speed, and he gives her a blinding grin and hugs her again, so that her boot-clad feet leave the ground for a moment. Tenten, thoroughly shocked, grips his shoulders and wonders if the stress has caused her to suddenly lose her mind.

"Oh, Tenten! I would be honored to be your escort to the midwinter ball!" Lee sets her down again, still grinning happily. "It's going to be so much fun!"

At this point, Tenten is feeling somewhat as if her mind has disengaged from her body and is soaring around somewhere up by the treetops. "That's…oh my god, Lee, you're amazing!"

Before Lee can even blink, Tenten has thrown her arms around him, kissed him on the cheek, and disappeared into the cover of the trees.

A few moments pass.

A bird chirps.

Lee touches his cheek, not quite sure what on _earth _happened there.

Oh dear.

-

"You did _not _ditch training with Tsunade-sama just for this," Tenten says, aghast, as soon as she opens the door to her apartment.

Sakura walks in and drops her bag on the floor, unfazed. "I left a note. She'll understand. Besides, this is _important._"

Tenten gives her friend a skeptical look. "I told you we could go on Saturday."

"The day _before_ the ball? No, Tenten. Have you ever gone dress shopping before?"

The look Tenten sends her way says it all.

Sakura sighs and grabs Tenten by the arm, fairly dragging her out the door. "That's what I thought, wonder kunoichi. Let's go."

-

An hour before the midwinter ball, and Tenten is curled up on her armchair in a fetal position, rocking back and forth.

A little voice inside her tells her that this is undoubtedly extremely childish of her. Hell, she's faced _death _with a straighter face.

_I mean, what should have been the worst part is over, _she tells herself, clutching her knees tighter to her chest. _I asked Lee. He said yes. It wasn't terribly humiliating or cringe-worthy. The world hasn't ended. And yet…_

And yet, Tenten, clad in her glimmering claret red halter dress, new black and strappy high heels, with her newly wax-straightened (Ino had practically tied her down to the salon chair) hair falling to her waist and looking a glossier shade of brown than usual, her eyes tinged with kohl eyeliner and red eye shadow, is having super huge grips of foreboding.

Technically, according to her recent conversation with Neji, the Green Beast has already been captured. He _is _her date to the dance, after all (the words still have a somewhat surreal quality to them), so what else can go wrong?

Almost immediately after thinking this, Tenten's mind is suddenly filled with no less than thirty scenarios regarding Things Going Wrong.

She buries her head into the nearest pillow and groans. _Stupid sense of foreboding. Stupid crush on Lee that is causing stupid sense of foreboding. Gah._

There are times when Tenten hates her kunoichi sixth sense. This would have to be one of them.

-

One of the sights that Neji did not _ever _think he would see in this lifetime: Rock Lee wearing a tuxedo.

And, even though he is completely heterosexual, thankyouverymuch, it takes only a few seconds for the Hyuuga prodigy to note that Rock Lee is looking _damn _fine in said tuxedo, too.

Between thorough mental chastisements of his own self for making such a horrifying statement, Neji thinks that Tenten will rather enjoy the Tuxedoed Lee Effect.

They are congregated at the fountain slightly away from Hokage Tower, waiting for their respective _dates_ to show up. Lee is fairly bouncing with nervous energy - this is his first non-mission-related official social event, and he is determined to do Gai-sensei proud. He had taken extra care with his attire, forgoing his special dressy spandex (a fetching shade of lime green), for what Shikamaru had assured him was proper attire. He has a bright daisy for Tenten in his right hand, which is ready to be presented to her at the first possibility.

Lee is also aware that this is technically his first official _date_. Therefore, he had learned how to dance properly for the occasion. Armed with the tuxedo, the daisy, good dancing skills, and a carefully groomed visage and extra-bright smile, Lee is confident that tonight is going to be a good night.

This illusion is shattered by a puff of smoke.

Well, the puff of smoke isn't the thing directly responsible for the shattering of his confidence. It is the girl who steps out of the puff of smoke – Tenten, yes, the same Tenten that he has seen every day of his life for the past four and a half years.

Lee is a strong shinobi. Thus, seeing the sparkly dress, the longer-than-he-ever-knew-it-was-and-super-shiny-hair and the _makeup, _well, that doesn't change anything.

It's really the smile on her face that does it. It's the somewhat shy (Tenten, shy!) smile and the blush that has nothing to do with any cosmetics that puts the final nail in the coffin. The fact that she's so happy to see _him _here, waiting for _her_, ricochets about inside his brain, and something inside him notes the vaguely surreal quality of this whole evening.

"You look really nice, Lee," she offers, that radiant smile still on her face.

Somewhat dazed, Lee offers her first his arm, then the daisy, too stunned to even make a proper flower of youth analogy. "You look lovely, Tenten."

Somewhere between her hand in his as she takes the daisy and the even more joyful expression on her face as she takes the daisy, Rock Lee cracks. He doesn't suddenly vomit or develop a powerful migraine. However, he does have to restrain his knees from wobbling.

Something has changed. He has no idea what it is. Maybe he's coming down with the flu. Maybe the miso for lunch hadn't agreed with him.

Lee knows that he is probably not very emotionally actualized. But as he walks into the newly opened doors of the seasonally decorated Hokage Tower with Tenten on his arm, whatever new, uncertain sentiment he is feeling threatens to overwhelm him.

And, with a rather strong sense of apprehension, Lee knows with a sudden surety that nothing is ever going to be the same again.

¤

Okay, so this wasn't the last chapter. There will be one more, dealing with the Happenings Of The Midwinter Ball, the ensuing drama, and Lee and Tenten being extremely obtuse. XD

Reviews appreciated!


	3. Dizzying Descent

**Note:** As always, thank you to everybody who reviewed. This chapter featuring ballroom insanity, spying on Lee and Tenten, and some good ol' LeeTen goodness. And, uh, sorry for the long wait.

**Vertigo – Chapter Three**

¤

"Do you _see_ them?"

Even though they are standing quite close together, locked in some sort of semblance to a waltz that is supposed to be graceful, the ballroom is really quite loud, and Neji frowns and leans down slightly. "What?"

Sakura sighs impatiently; darting covert looks around the extremely crowded dance floor. "Lee and Tenten."

Neji pales. "We lost them again?"

"Apparently." She places her hands on his waist, and sidesteps gracefully, neatly placing the both of them out of the line of fire that is Mitarashi Anko and Morino Ibiki trying – and failing - to dance while inebriated.

Neji is distracted from his attempts at a teammate search by the fact that his pink-haired partner seems to be dragging him in the opposite direction. "Sakura, _I'm _supposed to be leading," he hisses, scandalized.

"You're leading us in the direction of Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei's dance-off, and seeing that _once_ tonight was bad enough! Just relax. I've got this covered."

True enough, Sakura navigates them through the crush of familiar and unfamiliar bodies smoothly, all while appearing to just be dancing innocently with Neji. That is, until she comes to a sudden halt behind Shikamaru, causing Neji to crash rather unceremoniously into her, and, by the domino effect, Shikamaru. The three chuunin and jounin, respectively, end up in a clumsy huddle behind the nearest available decorative pillar, after narrowly avoiding toppling into Jiraiya (which would have been an unpleasant experience, to say the least), dragged there by Sakura's deceptively delicate-looking hands.

"What the hell?" Neji and Shikamaru manage, more or less in unison, while rubbing their respective bumped heads.

Sakura shushes them, before chancing a peek to the land outside the pillar. "Sorry. I didn't want it to look terribly obvious."

Neji joins her, and soon makes out the objects of her interest. Lee and Tenten have managed to find a somewhat less packed area of the floor to themselves, and seem to be dancing in peace. Tenten's arms are wrapped around Lee's shoulders, and his hands rest loosely on her waist. Obviously, they are engaged in some sort of conversation. Out of sheer curiosity, Neji reads Lee's lips for a moment, and quickly deduces that Lee and Tenten are talking about adopting kittens from orphanages and making each kitten a mascot of a different ninja team.

He rolls his eyes, albeit in a somewhat affectionate way.

Sakura elbows him. "They're talking about kittens, Neji! They're so _cute_…"

Neji sighs. "Right."

Shikamaru starts to mutter something about Neji being completely whipped, but is cut off by the sudden arrival of Gai and Kakashi.

"Neji!" Gai booms enthusiastically. "I was wondering if you would let me borrow the lovely Sakura-san for the waltz-off between myself and my eternal rival!"

Neji, seeing the expression on his kind-of-maybe-girlfriend's face, almost suggests that his sensei go off and borrow Tenten instead. Then, he chances a look off onto the dance floor again, and sighs. Lee and Tenten look almost nauseatingly happy, and honestly, he doesn't want to risk the bad karma that would assuredly come hand-in-hand with splitting them up – or the pain that would ensue if Tenten ever found out about this little incident.

"Of course, Gai-sensei," he says dutifully.

Maito Gai beams brightly and with a great deal of confidence, before Kakashi steps forward and yawns casually, radiating the pure, undiluted coolness that Gai is so envious of. "Well, now that Gai has snagged my student," he drawls, "I seem to be without a dance partner."

"Aha! You forfeit!"

Kakashi raises an eyebrow. "I do not forfeit."

"But you do not have a dance partner!"

Kakashi's eyebrow threatens to disappear into his shock of gray hair. "Why, I am quite sure that Neji wouldn't mind being my partner for a dance or two."

It takes the force of sheer Hyuuga willpower to stop Neji from fainting on the spot. He looks to Sakura instinctively, and she shrugs, her green eyes saying, _Suffer. I am. _

Neji sighs again. The things he does for love and the deep-seated desire to see teammates happy.

-

Tenten is…happy. On-the-verge-of-letting-her-guard-down happy. At first, she had believed that everything was just an elaborate hallucination brought on by nerves, despite the very warm, very real feeling of Lee's hand against hers and the soft petals and fragrant scent of the daisy currently pinned into her hair.

They had taken to the dance floor almost immediately after their arrival, and Tenten admitted to feeling a considerable amount of trepidation at the prospect. On the occasions that they have had to infiltrate social events as a team, Lee had hardly been the best dancer in the room. As a matter of fact, he had trodden on her toes so much that almost the entirety of the dance had been filled with his apologizing profusely.

_Then again, _Tenten muses as Lee spins her around carefully, _last time, he was fourteen and a half and it took all of our combined efforts to stop him from wearing the dreadful lime green spandex. _

She smiles as she remembers it, and Lee catches her back to him, thanking all the gods that her nerves seem to have calmed enough to let him touch her without her entire being screaming with a mixture of emotions, in contrast to their first dance of the night. "What is it, Tenten?" he asks, skillfully avoiding running into Jiraiya-sama on his tenth attempt to beg the Godaime for just one dance.

"Oh, nothing," she dismisses, grinning at the expression of outrage on Tsunade's face. "Just remembering our first ball, you know, that one time right after our first chuunin exams."

A somewhat wounded look slides over Lee's face. "When I was forbidden to wear my best formal attire?"

Tenten laughs. "Lee, it was lime green spandex. You could see it from ten miles away – worse than Naruto's old jumpsuit."

"Exactly! It symbolized the brightness and radiance of the Springtime Of Youth! Marvelous." He sighs in reminiscence, once again lost in his old desire to have the entirety of Team Gai dressed similarly all the time.

Tenten actually sees a tear spring to the corner of his eye, and nudges him playfully. "You're just like Gai-sensei, down to the whole stepping-on-feet thing."

Well, maybe it had been deliberate bait. She intended for him to protest indignantly as he always did, and then demonstrate his newfound amazing dance skills. She had _not _intended for him to trod on her foot rather painfully – once again, reminiscent of the old times.

"Ouch! Lee!"

Lee gasps with dismay and jumps back, patting her shoulder in a way obviously intended to be comforting. "I apologize, Tenten! I did not mean to wound you! I just thought – never mind. Do you require me to procure some ice?"

Tenten ceases her hopping up and down with pain for a moment, her fingers clutching the shoulder of Lee's black jacket for support. "Wait, Lee, what happened? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

True enough, Lee is much paler than he was five minutes previously. He scans the dance floor, looking nervous and jumpy. "It cannot be," he mutters.

Fancy dress or not, Tenten is on the verge of grabbing Lee by the shoulders and shaking him. However, Lee is saved that indignity by the fact that Tenten has just seen something so disturbing that it really kind of makes her want to puke. She grabs Lee's arm hard. "Lee – is that really –"

Lee nods somberly. "I never thought I would see the day."

Tenten, horrified, continues to hold on to Lee for support. "Gai-sensei! _Dancing_! With _Sakura_ – and her poor feet! Oh, Kami, she did nothing to deserve this!"

The grave expression on Lee's face changes to confusion. "Gai-sensei and Sakura? I am referring to Kakashi-sensei and Neji!" And he nods toward their rather sickened-looking teammate, who is currently waltzing with Hatake Kakashi.

Lee is watching the two odd couples, rather transfixed. He really hadn't known that Neji could go that shade of pasty, spinach-and-milk green. Honestly, he welcomes the distraction – anything to get his mind off the flu-like symptoms that have been plaguing him all night. Lee knows he hasn't contracted some sort of illness: his youthful constitution is much too strong for that sort of nonsense.

Tenten frowns a little, looking worried. "Lee, you look kind of clammy."

Lee shakes himself out of his daze and puts his hands on her hips, before giving her his most dazzling smile. "Never, Tenten! I am the spirit of youthful wellness!"

Tenten looks unconvinced. "Still, it's best you get some fresh air. Here, let's go to the gardens." She directs silent apologies to Neji and Sakura for leaving them with their slightly, uh, less-than-desirable dance partners, although that train of thought is effectively derailed when somebody bumps into Lee, who is trailing behind her, causing his light hold on her wrist to slide down a little, so that his fingers actually make contact with hers.

Tenten stops dead, and Lee narrowly avoids crashing into her. "Tenten, are you all right?" he asks, directing a concerned look at the high heels he considers to be considerable safety hazards.

Smiling weakly and cursing her lack of composure, Tenten shakes her head. "Perfectly fine." She doesn't dare to reach out and take his hand again, and settles for relying on their combined navigational skills to work their way out of this crazed mess of a ballroom floor. Clearly, whoever decided it would be an acceptable idea to offer alcohol to one hundred plus shinobi and then let them loose on a dance floor had clearly been hitting the hallucinatory mushrooms…

The cool night air of the gardens, when they finally fight their way out there, is a welcome respite from the packed heat indoors, and Tenten exhales, feeling an inexplicable sense of calmness and relief.

Then she realizes that, yeah, it's cool and there's room to move her elbows here. Which means that she and Lee are…alone. Completely alone. On a beautiful starlit night, with the full moon shining above them, and with every rosebush and decorative specimen of plant life around them lit up with small orbs of golden light. In other words, it's the very picture of the scenarios that happen so often in the romance novels that every kunoichi reads and then denies reading.

Tenten sighs, and somehow, she _knows_ that Sakura had something to do with this.

Lee seems to have regained his customary fresh pallor, obviously reenergized by the change in scenery and the pretty flowers, as they wander through the elaborately landscaped paths, farther and farther away from the ballroom. He's always been a bit of an aspiring gardener, and as he begins to study the nearest rosebush, poking it gently and inspecting each petal carefully, Tenten studies him and wonders what on earth she should _do._

The obvious, Sakura-and-Ino-suggested solution would be to pounce on the poor boy while he is vulnerable – in other words, pounce on him right this instant. It's the kind of assertive, direct thing that Tenten is normally really into, so she has no idea why the dreaded passive-aggressive bug has bitten her.

She inches closer – hardly the recommended quick pounce – until she is standing next to him. Now, even Lee, who can be the master of obliviousness when he wants to, can't _not_ notice that his favorite teammate is by his side, watching him with her liquid brown eyes open wide.

Lee straightens, and not for the first time, wishes that he was more like Gai-sensei. Gai-sensei would know exactly what to do or say when confronted with all these strange symptoms. He would probably offer Tenten the nearest rose, wink and flash the Good Guy Pose, and tell her that it was a beautiful rose for a girl who was fairer than the finest flower.

Lee almost does it, but then he remembers that would be intentional vandalism of the Hokage's personal gardens, and everybody knows that Tsunade is anal retentive about her gardens. So the Green Beast thinks fast. Very first.

Tenten blinks when Lee's hand darts out, brushes her hair ever so lightly, and when her eyes open again, he is holding the daisy he had given her at the beginning of the night, looking a little abashed. He holds it back out to her. "I would have gotten a rose, but…roses…Tsunade-sama…obsessive-compulsive, you know," he finishes meekly, and then rushes on to the rest of his surely Gai-sensei-approved statement. "Abeautifulflowerforabeautifulgirl."

Upon finishing his dreadful mockery of a properly youthful courtship line, it takes all of his considerable willpower not to drop the daisy and run thirty laps around Konoha for mangling proper enunciation and for making Tenten look confused.

It takes a few moments for her to decipher Lee's sentence, and a few more moments to come up with a more subtle way of slapping herself across the face in order to clear her ears out. Because there's _no way_ Lee just called her beautiful, and this is just some more of her crazy wishful thinking.

Maybe Kiba had spiked the punch again. Maybe she had taken a harder head hit in her latest spar than she had thought. Maybe all those years of stressful living as a kunoichi have just caught up to her. Maybe all the years of subconsciously secretly crushing on Lee have – or, probably, all the years of subconscious secret wishful thinking. Either way, something in Tenten's brain frays, and then snaps. She has already grabbed him by the tie and pulled him close so fast that their heads almost collide, and by the time her mind catches up to her body, she is kissing Rock Lee like she's never going to see him again, and this is the _most insane,_ and, perversely, most perfect moment of her life.

Then Lee stumbles backward into a topiary from the force of impact, trips, and falls _into_ said topiary. Tenten blinks, feeling rather stunned. Her extremely limited experience of romantic moments aside, she _does_ know that something like that isn't supposed to happen.

Before panic sets in, thankfully, Lee surfaces from the topiary, looking somewhat dazed, and with little green leaves adorning his person, and for once, he looks lost for words.

Tenten gulps nervously. "Sorry," she whispers, her usual reserves of courage seeming to desert her. "I shouldn't have."

That seems to have done the trick, strangely enough. Lee actually looks indignant, and draws himself up to his full height. "You have nothing to apologize for, Tenten!" he assures her, his eyes wide and earnest. "It is entirely my fault that I tripped over my own shoelaces in my attempt to tenderly wrap my arms around you and reciprocate the several warm summertimes of your affection."

Tenten blinks. This is _really_ getting to be too much shock for one night.

Lee looks around wildly, until his eyes cast upon the nearby topiary. Vandalism and Tsunade-sama's wrath be damned, he plucks the red rose that comprises the eagle's eye right out and offers it to Tenten. "I'm sorry; I'll do it right this time," he promises.

Tenten exhales, a long sigh she didn't realize she had been holding in, and she feels a smile spread across her face. "Lee," she tells him, "you couldn't do it wrong if you tried."

When he takes a small step forward and kisses her, she feels that familiar swooping sensation in her stomach, although it feels considerably more pleasant now then it first did, on the day she had spent puking her guts out and Lee had given her a tangerine and that hug that had changed everything.

When they finally pull apart, Tenten has a feeling that the thoroughly soppy expression now on Lee's face is completely mirrored on hers. And somehow, she can't find it in herself to mind.

"I feel better now," she says, unable to keep herself from smiling.

Lee takes her hand, and his palm is warm and comforting against her own, and he cheers. "Yes! Better enough to compete in a dance-off against Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei?"

Tenten considers it. Eternal mortification. Nausea. Gai-sensei's bad dance moves. Permanently aching toes. Public humiliation.

She tilts her head up and sees the joy in Lee's expression, and she smirks. "Only if they get ready to lose miserably."

"Excellent, Tenten! I have the perfect routine for us, an amazing display of the eternal springtime of youth and the beauty of summers of love…"

From her rather uncomfortable spot crammed behind the eagle topiary with Neji, Sakura sighs dreamily and actually wipes a tear from the corner of her eye. "I told you that shoe-untying jutsu would come in handy!"

Neji exhales, watching his teammates make their way to the ballroom, hand-in-hand and enthusiastically discussing whether they would be allowed to borrow Tonton to be their mascot against Team Gaikashi (the Hyuuga shudders at the mention of the hideous portmanteau name), considering the absence of little kittens. "Something tells me that a new adorable, youthful, fiery couple has just been born."

Sakura smirks up at him, before wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him down to a more reasonable height. "Congratulations for a job well done?"

"Of course," Neji replies agreeably.

-

_Epilogue:_

_Sakura always denies her involvement in the events of that night, and Neji goes temporarily deaf whenever the subject comes up. Still, they get the first two invitations to the wedding._

¤

Thank you so much to everyone who's read or reviewed this fic – and dealt with my breaks between updates, haha. Lee and Tenten love you. :) Go out and spread the joy of LeeTen!

Reviews appreciated!


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